The Department of Zoology, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Lahore in collaboration with the Khadija Tul Kubra Business Incubation Center (K-BIC), LCWU organized a novel and groundbreaking workshop on 20th of May 2024 to celebrate the International World Bee Day-2024’. This workshop was directed towards “Entrepreneurship AI and Apiculture’. The theme of ‘Bee Engaged with Youth’ was the centerstage of this workshop. The main objective of this workshop was to raise awareness among people about critical role of honeybees in sustainable ecosystem and to engage them in modern beekeeping techniques for sustainable economics. Aspects of apiculture as entrepreneurship were also discussed in perspective to Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Chairperson of the Department, Prof. Dr. Farzana Rashid, endorsed the role of entrepreneurship in the upcoming global world. She proclaimed that as the AI and IT were the two main themes/factors encompassing whole human population, hence it was a dire need of time to incorporate these two in sustainable entrepreneurial ideas. Dr. Maria Anjum, Director K-BIC, LCWU elaborated the role of bee-keeping in Pakistan and elaborated its advantages especially for rural and resource-poor settings of the country.
The focal persons of the workshop, Dr. Mahnoor Pervez and Dr. Saffora Riaz (Assistant Professors) explained the role of AI in apiculture and its allied aspects. They explained how the bee-keeping encompasses the production of beeswax, royal jelly, pollen, and propolis, as well as offering pollination services to agricultural ventures.
Guest speakers of the workshop included Dr. Farooq Bhatti, Director Forests Wildlife and Fisheries Department, Punjab and Prof. Dr. Mian Muhammad Awais, LUMS, Lahore who presented feasibility and business plans for apiculture-related aspects.
The workshop ended with an endorsement that such awareness workshops should be allied with hands-on training workshops on apiculture so that more and more Pakistani population could benefit from this home-based industry.
